Diving Page

Diving....Then and Now

1955 2001

Miami Beach, Fla. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Ever since I can remember I have enjoyed swimming in the ocean and especially diving into it. My first ever jump into the ocean happened when I was three or four years old and my farther put me on the ledge of a rock in a little cove at the seashore. After coaxing me into the first jump I wanted to keep on doing it over and over again. My next memory of jumping into the water was at a large outdoor public saltwater swimming pool, which at that time was the largest in the country. Still very young and not very good swimmers a few friends and I deceided to sneak over to the deep end of the pool and jump in.(near the ladder of course) It is one experience I will never forget. I jumped in and it seemed like I was going downward forever. I don't know if I imagined the bubbles flowing up by my face or if I had my eyes opened in what seemed like an eternity before I resurfaced. Subsequent jumps became easier and easier and it was not long after that we began to learn to dive instead of jumping. I spent most of my boyhood summer days at this pool swimming and diving.
This pool was the outdoor salt water pool at the Forest River Recreational Park in Salem Massachusetts. The park was a large facility with picnic benchs, swing sets, baseball field, a cement slide, a duck pond, (used for hockey in the winter), and a beach, bath house, little store and lots of space. In the park was the Pioneer Village, a replica of a little community showing how the first Salem settlers lived in the 1630's.

The picture above on the left (1955) was taken at a Miami Beach Hotel in 1955 when there were still diving boards in public pools. Three meter high boards were not too common even back then but this place had one. You rarely see any diving boards at all now-a-days, nevermind high ones. But there is one place here in Ft. Lauderdale (Swimming Hall of Fame) where diving is open to the public for a few hours a day, and anyone can use the 1 and 3 meter spring boards. This is where the second picture (2001) was taken. The series of pictures below showing a dive from 3 meters, was taken by wife Carol.